A week from today, we’ll be voting for our next town council, then listening to Moose FM after 8:00pm for the results.
So in this week’s examination of Cochrane history, we look at a council election in 1940… in which there was a landslide.
Public library archivist Ardis Proulx-Chedore reads from the Northland Post.
“With 206 votes out of a total of 235 votes cast, Miss Emma Dempsay came as close to a 100 per cent vote as any Council candidate has ever done in town. The total vote was very light, being about a quarter of the heaviest vote on record, and about half of the average.”
Miss Dempsay filled in as mayor at one time, but when she ran for the position, she lost the election.
SPECIALIZED ADVANCE VOTING
Next week’s election includes advance, online and telephone voting.
In 1940, there were three days of advance voting, for a specified group of voters.
Archivist Proulx-Chedore reads from an ad in the Northland Post, outlining who qualified.
“Railway employees and commercial travellers whose employment is such as to necessitate their absence from their ordinary place of residence and who have reason to believe that they will be absent up the fixed day for the municipal elections.”
As always, thanks to the library for its weekly cooperation in producing our history feature.